AMES - Fourth-ranked Iowa clipped Iowa State's top-ranked wrestling team, 20-13, in front of a sellout crowd at Hilton Coliseum Sunday.

It felt good for the Hawkeyes, just like it did last year when Iowa beat Iowa State, 24-6, in early December.

But will it matter in March?

That was the message Hawkeye head coach Tom Brands planned to deliver to his team on the bus ride home from Ames.

Two weeks after the Hawkeyes' big win over the Cyclones last year, Iowa State hammered Iowa at the Midlands Championships.

A couple of months later, the Cyclones did it again at the national tournament, finishing as the national runners-up, 31 1/2 points better than the Hawkeyes' eighth-place finish.

"I'm saying last year they whipped us," said Brands. "We beat them in the dual meet. They whipped us at the Midlands by 50 points. They whipped us at the nationals. They were nine points out of the title. We were in eighth place.

"We weren't in the league to win the national duals. We weren't in the league to win the Big Ten, lost by 60 points.

"What I'm saying is we're not resting on this. We have to go forward from here and springboard off it. Last year, I think we rested on it a little bit."

Iowa won six of the 10 matches Sunday, including the first four, to take the wind out of a boisterous crowd.

After fifth-ranked Charlie Falck opened with a win at 125, the Hawkeyes got upset victories from Joe Slaton at 133 and Dan LeClere at 141.

Slaton, ranked 20th, upset fourth-ranked Nick Fanthorpe, 6-5 at 133, while the unranked LeClere beat 12th-ranked Nick Gallick at 141, 3-1.

Brent Metcalf followed with a 14-4 major decision over Mitch Mueller at 149 to give Iowa a 13-0 lead.

"Definitely, coming out and winning the first four matches is going to take the wind out of anybody's sail," said Falck, a Strawberry Point native.

Iowa was the aggressor in those first four matches and for most of the meet. The Hawkeyes registered 12 more takedowns than the Cyclones, 23-11.

"I think the nature of our guys is to attack and to get to our attacks where we are good," said Brands. "I think we capitalized. I think it was important to finish takedowns.

"When you look at big matches and how they are won or lost, you have to finish takedowns. That is something we emphasized this week."

Iowa State finally stemmed the tide a little at 157, when Cyler Sanderson came from behind to beat Ryan Morninstar, 10-5.

Moringstar took an early 4-2 lead, but Sanderson got a reversal and a takedown in the second period and scored a three-point near fall in the third as he controlled the final five minutes.

The Cyclones also got victories from Jon Reader at 165, Jake Varner at 184 and David Bertolino at 197.

Like a year ago, the Cyclones said they have to move on and look to the future.

"I think we did a great job last year of putting it (the loss) behind us and finishing strong," said Bertolino. "This is just one dual meet early in the season."

"It hurts," said Iowa State coach Cael Sanderson. "It was a big match. We wanted to do well. When you get this many fans in here (8,998), you want to entertain them and give them something to cheer about. We didn't give them quite enough to cheer about.

"Iowa did a great job. They won the close matches, the first three - three real close matches."

Varner's and Bertolino's victories pulled Iowa State within 17-13 with the heavyweight match left, but Iowa's Matt Fields pulled out a 6-3 win over David Zabriskie by scoring three points in the final nine seconds.

Jay Borschel earned a major decision at 174 for Iowa's other victory.

The Hawkeyes wrestled without defending 165-pound national champion Mark Perry, who was sitting out a one-match suspension.

The Cyclones took over the top spot in both major polls last week after they ended then No. 1 Minnesota's 23-match win streak, 18-13, in Minneapolis.

Brands, however, didn't bite on the notion his Hawkeyes should vault to No. 1 this week.

"I heard it said somewhere one of four teams could beat anybody at any time and that it was Iowa, Oklahoma State, Iowa State and Minnesota," said Brands. "You know what, from the outside looking in that may be true, but you are not going to get no quotable from me on if we're the number one team or not."

Iowa returns to action Thursday when it hosts Northern Iowa and Cornell College starting at 6:30 p.m.

Iowa State travels to Northern Iowa Sunday for a 2 p.m. meet.

The next time the Cyclones and Hawkeyes will see each other is on Dec. 29-30 at the Midlands Championships in Evanston, Ill.

Contact Jim Nelson at (319) 291-1521 or jim.nelson@wcfcourier.com

IOWA 20, IOWA STATE 13

125 - Charlie Falck (Iowa) dec. Mark Kist 8-4; 133 - Joe Slaton (Iowa) dec. Nick Fanthorpe 6-5; 141 - Dan LeClere (Iowa) dec. Nick Gallick 3-1; 149 - Brent Metcalf (Iowa) dec. Mitch Mueller 14-4; 157 - Cyler Sanderson (ISU) dec. Ryan Morningstar 10-5; 165 - Jon Reader (ISU) dec. Jake Kerr 7-3; 174 - Jay Borschel (Iowa) dec. Aaron Scott 18-7; 184 - Jake Varner (ISU) dec. Phillip Keddy 4-1; 197 - David Bertolino (ISU) dec. Chad Beatty 16-5; Hwt. - Matt Fields (Iowa) dec. David Zabriskie 6-3.

Referee - Ken Ritchie.